A. Introduction

Social attacks on comics, both books and strips, have a
long history in America, beginning with the first day of the
appearance of the "Yellow Kid" (in color) on February 16,
1896. The "Yellow Kid" was disliked because of his rudeness,
slap-stick style cruelty, and overall sensationalism (Waugh,
1991:6-7). Some early opponents of comics included: Ambrose
Bierce, Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, William Rockhill Nelson, and Max
Nordau; there were also crusades organized by individuals and
groups (Davidson, 1958:255; Waugh, 1991:7).

The most spectacular assault on comics came from Dr.
Fredric Wertham and the resulting Congressional Hearings,
1954-55. The debate was quelled, possibly, by two important
events, the establishment of the Comics Code Authority (a
self-censoring institution of the comics industry) and the
diversion of public attention away from comics to television
and film. The following years of relative calm witnessed a
heightened interest in comics demonstrable by the increasing
number of scholarly studies on comics (e.g., Duncan, 1990;
Inge, 1990; Sabin, 1993; Whitlark, 1988; Witek, 1989),
University Libraries containing special collections (e.g.,
Bowling Green State, Michigan State, and Ohio State), and the
serious study of popular culture in general (evidenced by the
existence of the American Culture Association, Popular Culture
Association [PCA], and university departments set up for the
study of popular culture). This seems sufficient proof to
assume that Wertham's ghost was put to rest; however, the
outrage over comics is re-emerging.

A direct proof of the re-emergence of Wertham's ghost can
be found in John Fulce's attack on comics, Seduction of the
Innocent Revisited, published in 1990. And cases of actual
censorship are on the rise. Due to complaints from
evangelical groups, Fleetway (an independent comic book
company) withdrew plans to publish "True Faith", the story of
a pious Christian plumber, distraught over the death of his [End page 129]
wife and newborn, who desires to inflict vengeance on God
through acts of terrorism on churches in south London in order
to lure God out of hiding and then kill him with a Colt .44
magnum (Economist, 1991:82).

In another instance a printer for college newspapers, the
Ellsworth American, refused to publish an "obscene" comic
strip by free lance cartoonist Steve Kurth; a few weeks later
Kurth's illustration for another college newspaper was pulled
by the assistant editor (Fox, 1991:15-16).

During a conference session on "The Comics Page" at Ohio
State University's 1992 Festival of Cartoon Art, the
discussion veered from gender and race diversity to heated
discussions over the rights of newspaper editors to substitute
less offensive words for words such as "damn", "God", and
"hell" (Astor, 1992:32-33).

More recently there was a hot debate over a series of the
syndicated comic strip, "For Better or Worse", for its
sequence on a teen who reveals that he is gay. Forty
newspapers (including: the Boston Globe, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) and the
Las Vegas Review Journal, dropped the strip due to protest
calls and letters from over a thousand subscribers. The St.
Louis Post-Dispatch alone suffered a loss of readership
numbering eight to nine hundred. Out of the forty newspapers,
twenty canceled the strip permanently (Astor, 1992:32;
Kiernan, 1993:1; Tipton, 1993:1A). Creator Lynn Johnston did
receive support and encouragement from some Canadian readers.
"Canadians seem to be more open-minded about gays than many
Americans" (Astor, 1992:32).

Though Canadians may be more accepting of gays, they are
not accepting of "gun-toting superhero[s] ridding the world of
Quebec separatist terrorists" (Authier, 1993:A1). The Parti
Quebecois demanded that the first issue of DC Comics' Justice
League Task Force be pulled from newsstands declaring it
"hate literature". The issue in question contained a story-
line where superhero, Martian Manhunter, rescues two hostages
from a paramilitary force of French separatists who want
Quebec to secede from Canada. The killing of four separatists
is described in the comic book as a "politically correct
murder" (Authier, 1993:A1).

Another public outcry occurred in Tampa Bay, Florida over
the publication of Boiled Angel, an independent publication
by Michael Christopher Diana. Diana was taken to court over
obscenity charges for his comic depicting satanic sacrifice,
sodomy, child rape, and serial murder. On March 31, 1994, he
was found guilty of publishing a "lewd and obscene"
publication (Romenesko, 1994). Diana claims that his work is [End page 130]
satire and should be taken as a joke (Griffin, 1993:3B). In
the same vein, Hart Fisher, distributor of a comic book about
the famed serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, was ordered by an
Illinois judge to stop selling the comic book pending a class
action law suit by eight families of Dahmer's victims
(Hollywood Reporter, 1992:17).

B. Gramsci and Subversion

The above amply demonstrates that some comics are still
considered subversive and that criticism against the medium is
growing. This idea of subversiveness needs clarification in
order to analyze a sampling of current comic books and answer
the title question of my article. The definition of
subversion will be based on Antonio Gramsci's social theory of
hegemony. Though Gramsci lived in the early 1900's and died
in 1937, most of his writings were unavailable to the non-
Italian reading public until the 1960's. Since then because
of "conceptual advances within Marxism and [a] strategic
relevance to movements for liberation in the developed
capitalist societies. ..." (Boggs, 1976:7) Gramsci has
received increasing attention in the United States and Western
Europe. This is clearly seen by the works of contemporary
scholars in various fields (e.g., Adamson, 1980; Cirese, 1982;
de Lauretis, 1987; Denemark, 1990;
Holub, 1992; Tuman, 1988;
Villanueva, 1991). Also the most recent issue of PRE/TEXT:
A Journal of Rhetorical Theory (Vol. 13, 1-2 Spring/Summer
1992), is "situated within the project of Gramsci, ..."(Berlin
and Trimbur, 1992:12).

Gramsci defines two important terms in his theory:
hegemony and counter-hegemony. Intricately connected to these
terms are the concepts of reproduction and reification.
Hegemony is the ideological power structure in any given
society; the status quo. In Gramsci's Marxism, Carl Boggs
describes hegemony as follows:

In Gramsci's view, class domination is exercised as
much through popular 'consensus' achieved in civil
society as through physical coercion (or threat of it)
by the state apparatus, especially in advanced
capitalist societies where education, the media, law,
mass culture, etc. take on a new role (p.17).

Hegemony, therefore, implies that all aspects of society and
culture are tools of the current dominant order, either on a
conscious or subconscious/subliminal level. Hegemony, like
counter-hegemony, is an organic process. And as an organic
process there are occasional shifts. These shifts allow an
opportunity for change and involve consciousness, action,
history and especially language. A question of language is an
indicator that other problems are about to emerge, a possible [End page 131]
reorganization (Gramsci, 1985:183-84). Gramsci refers to this
process as praxis.

Gramsci (1985) conceived that true liberation required
the creation of "a new 'integrated culture'" (p.17). This
culture would create a different world-view and thereby change
the current hegemony. Counter-hegemony is the force behind
true revolution and a counter-hegemonic structure is the only
force capable of subverting "the capacity of dominant elites
to manipulate attitudes, values, and life-styles through
media, education, culture, language, etc. ..." (p.40).
Changing societal world-views is not an easy task.
Hegemonies have two powerful tools (of which the United States
is an expert user), namely, reproduction and reification.
Reproduction is simply the propagation of the hegemony; it is
carried out through mass culture, folklore, language, the
media- all the elements that are used by the dominant hegemony
to control the subaltern group, the working class as well as
any minority or sub group being dominated by hegemonic powers
(Gramsci, 1971:52-55; Villanueva, 1991:250-251, 254).

A more insidious tool is reification, where the hegemony
absorbs counter-hegemonic elements and presents them to the
masses as their own. This process dilutes the original
revolutionary strength; it dilutes and distorts a new world-
view into something more like the old-world view
(Boggs,1984:168-171; Gramsci, 1971:279-318). The term
reification has been borrowed from Georg Lukacs (Boggs,
1976:68) and is used interchangeably with rationalization,
alienation, and commodification. The reason for relating
reification with alienation is that the process takes away the
identity of the subaltern group as a group. The process of
reification is also closely related to Gramsci's "passive
revolution" (p.50).

For the purpose of this paper subversion, using Gramscian
social theory, is anything that is counter-hegemonic. The
term subversion has previous connotations. In the attacks on
comics previously mentioned, subversion has implied moral
improprieties. Rock music, the drug culture, etc. are all
seen as subversive in a moral sense. Politically, subversion
can be illustrated from the left and from the right. For this
paper the term subversion will be used as a synonym for
counter-hegemony as a way to vary the language.

In order to answer the question of subversiveness in
comics, seven different comic book titles will be analyzed.
These titles were selected for their diversity and varying
degrees of subversiveness. The comics analyzed provide a
continuum of subversiveness. The continuum is: the non-
subversive comic; the non-subversive comic with slight
counter-hegemonic tendencies; the comic with surface [End page 132]
subversive tendencies but supports the hegemony; the slightly
subversive comic that is actually an illustration of
reification; the comic that appears counter-hegemonic but
contains reified themes; a comic that was counter-hegemonic at
one time but has since been reified; and a current subversive
comic. The seven comic books are: Superman #53 (published
by DC Comics), Spiderman (published by Marvel Comics),
Andrew Vachss'Hard Looks #1 (published by Dark Horse
Comics), Palestine #4 (published by Fantagraphics Books),
Something Different #3 (published by Wooga Central), The
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (published by Rip Off Press),
and Girlhero #1 (published by High Drive Publications).

As mentioned earlier, because Gramsci presents his ideas
through a Marxist construct, the notions of subversion and
counter-hegemony will be viewed from the left. The reader
should be aware that there are right-winged subversive comics
(Lobo and The Punisher are two examples), and counter-
hegemonies with far right agendas do exist.

The more a comic-book upholds the values and world view
of the current hegemony the less subversive. As the world
view is changed and the values of the current hegemony are
broken down, then the more subversive or counter-hegemonic a
comic-book is.

C. Comics and Counter-Hegemonic Subversion

The first comic book to be discussed is Superman #53.
This particular issue is noteworthy for its cover (Figure 1).
Here Superman is seen as the symbol of the United States with
his stalwart pose, salute, and the American flag in the
background. The title of the story, "Truth, Justice, and the
American Way", is written on the stripes of the waving flag.
Superman is seen as an integral part of the flag, almost
inseparable. From the cover alone the reader can discern that
Superman's function is to reproduce the current hegemony. The
story-line in this issue reinforces this opinion.

"Truth, Justice, and the American Way" is the story of a
foreign leader gone bad. The United States' government wants
Marlo, the leader of Qurac, extradited and brought to trial
for terrorist acts in Metropolis. Marlo is being held in the
Russian Embassy. Superman is asked to escort the plane that
will bring Marlo to the US. Superman agrees, reluctantly, and
during the journey appears to have failed in protecting
Marlo's life; his plane is shot down by one of the "Sons of
Liberty" (a terrorist group). In the last pages, the reader
learns that Marlo is safe. The downed plane was a decoy, and
a US Major had "fronted" the terrorist group. The crimes and
intrigues involved are reminiscent of Noriega, the Iran-Contra
scandal and the news stories of the behind-the-scenes [End page 133]
machinations of the US in Iraq before the Gulf War. The
depiction of governmental scandal may appear to border on the
counter-hegemonic, or at least be considered passively
revolutionary. But a close reading of the last two panels
prove this story to be reproductive of the current hegemony
(Figure 2 and Figure 2A).

Superman has learned that the General had suspicions of
the Major and was building a criminal case linking the Major
with Marlo and the military rebuilding of Qurac. During the
six months required to build a case Qurac had launched many
terrorist attacks and innocent lives were lost. Superman
responds to the General's justifications by saying he,
Superman, must respect all human life. The General reminds
Superman that the US is his, Superman's, country. Superman
responds (Figure 2A) that America "works best when the people
know that corrupt officials cannot bend the letter of the
law... and get away with it!" (Ordway et al., 1991:22).

With this statement Superman has reminded the readers
that the United States has a system of checks and balances.
The last panel (Figure 2A) shows two officers agreeing with
Superman and saluting, while the General, thinking that
Superman is politically naive, prays that Superman "never
turns against us..." (p.22). A symbolic interpretation of
this last panel reveals that even if corruption exists in the
US government, it is only one third of the officials, while
the remaining two thirds are actively protecting the laws and
ideals of the US. Superman is seen here as the true patriot
and defender of the masses and to emphasize this point the
reader is told that in the next issue Superman will be in
World War II (a subject that harkens back to the days of
ultra-patriotic superheroes). Superman is not afraid to admit
that corruption is possible, but he knows that the system
works and in the end corruption will be exposed. In this way
Superman serves as a traditional intellectual; "traditional
intellectuals pass on the 'truths' of the State and the
dominant hegemony in their work within subaltern institutions,
the institutions of civil society." (Villanueva, 1991:25).

The subaltern institutions are twofold in the case of
Superman. Within the world of Metropolis, Superman's alias is
Clark Kent, a newspaper reporter dedicated to bringing the
"truth" to the citizens. Clark Kent was raised by a farm
family in a small town, Smallville. Clark, and Superman both,
within their respective spheres, have the power to create a
counter-hegemony, but instead uphold the "truths of the
State." The other subaltern institution is American popular
culture and mass media. Clark and Superman are not only
carrying their messages to the fictional citizens of a
fictional Metropolis, but the message is also being taken to
the young readers of Superman comics. The dominant American
hegemony is quite safe in the hands of Superman. [End page 134]

A Marvel counterpart to DC's Superman is Spiderman. In
"real life" Spiderman is Peter Parker, who is a free lance
photographer for the Daily Bugle, a New York City newspaper
in the Universe of the Marvel publishing company. Another
similarity to Superman is that Spiderman's costume is also red
and blue, colors associated with the American flag and ideals
of national patriotism. The New York City of the Marvel
Universe, however, has a darker side than the Metropolis of
the DC Universe. Problems abound in the social order of
Spiderman's New York City. But, so do solutions as the most
recent story-line illustrates.

"Maximum Carnage" is a fourteen part story that
introduced a new Spiderman title, Spiderman Unlimited, and
ran through the four other Spiderman comic books; Amazing
Spiderman, Spectacular Spiderman,
Spiderman, and
Web of Spiderman. In this story, Carnage (a super-villain with
powers similar to Spiderman) breaks out of a maximum security
institution for the criminally insane, Ravencroft (DeFalco et
al., 1993). He teams up with other super-villains, including
Shriek. Shriek has the psychic power to amplify the emotions,
such as fear, hatred, anger, etc., of others (De Matteis et
al., 1993). This super-villain team goes to New York City,
commits mass murder and causes large sections of the city to
riot and generate "maximum carnage." (Michelinie et al.,
1993).

Spiderman teams up with other superheroes to defeat the
super-villains (De Matteis et al., 1993; Kavanagh et al.,
1993). At first their mere presence calms the crowds and
quells the disorder, but Shriek increases the amplification of
negative emotions and the populace begin to turn on the
superheroes.

Next, one of the superheroes, Iron Fist, uses his own
psychic abilities through Eastern meditation techniques to
return the crowd to normal. But, the crowd, aided by Shriek,
regains their hatred; Iron Fist's methods fail (De Matteis et
al., 1993). His technique, however, gives Spiderman an idea.
Meanwhile another superhero, Dagger, tries using a
metaphysical light to subdue Shriek. Though this attempt
succeeds at first; it fails in the end (De Matteis et al.,
1993). Spiderman, then fights the villains alone and as he is
about to be beaten his allies arrive at the scene with "an
Alpha Magni-Illuminizor... a good bomb." (p.18). This device
is a scientific invention created in a special laboratory and
is designed to duplicate, with higher intensities, the
meditative effects Iron Fist used earlier.

Metaphysics, or the spiritual reality, was unable to cure
society of the maximum carnage plague, even the combined
strength of the superheroes themselves failed the task. But, [End page 135]
American technology, through science, came to the rescue. And
science is political according to Gramsci; it can maintain the
dominant hegemony or contain the seeds of a counter-hegemony
(Boggs, 1984:139; Gramsci, 1971:244).

Spiderman, like Superman, is both superhero and worker
for the mass media; he is a redefined intellectual:

Rather than occupying a realm peripheral to the social
relations of production, or carrying out strictly
ideological tasks within them, the intellectuals- as
technicians, managers, professionals, academics,
cultural workers, and top-level bureaucrats- now carry
out a variety of necessary tasks within the economy,
political system, and culture (Boggs, 1984:285).

For Spiderman, the "necessary task[s]" was restoring the
hegemonic order; anarchy is unacceptable. Though the New York
City of the Marvel Universe is more unstable than the
Metropolis of the DC Universe, the dominant hegemony is still
in safe hands, and has an effective tool in Spiderman.

A world darker yet than Spiderman's New York City, is the
world of Andrew Vachss. Vachss is better known for his novels
about New York City's backstreets and Burke, an ex-con turned
private troubleshooter. His novels include: Flood,
Strega, Blue Belle, and Sacrifice. Recently Vachss has
been working with the independent comic book company, Dark
Horse, where his short stories have been adapted to the comic
book. Hard Looks is a hard look at all that is wrong with
our society and judicial/law system. Jerry Prosser, editor of
Hard Looks, describes Vachss' world in the section "Stalking
Horse" of Hard Looks: Number One:

...Vachss explores a horrifying world- a world all the
more horrifying because it really exists and most of us
choose to ignore it. A world wherein the life of a
child is only worth the price it can bring on the
street; wherein predators of children move with
impunity in a system designed to protect their rights
at the expense of the rights of their victims. Our
world (Vachss, 1992).

It is a work that appears to be very subversive. The
foreboding world of Hard Looks can be seen in the first
issue's cover (Figure 3). The story artwork is in black and
white, and each issue contains one complete short story. The
art and types of stories are reminiscent of EC Comics from the
early 1950s and the Alfred Hitchcock television series.

But this comic is not for children, and a glance at the
cover bears this out (Figure 3). The movie marquee advertises
triple x-rated films, one of the stores, advertising flesh, [End page 136]
nude, special service, and forbidden hardcore, is also rated
triple X.

In the pages of Hard Looks are stories with twists and
turns. "Dumping Ground" is about two security guards who rape
women and then feed their dead bodies to a pack of wild dogs.
After tossing their latest victim, the security guards return
to their car to find the dog pack waiting for them, and
justice is finally served. "Statute of Limitations" is the
short story about a woman who wants revenge on the step-father
who abused her from the time she was a baby until her teenage
years. "The Unwritten Law" is a story of murder and how two
con artists outsmart the law. The last story, "Hostage", is
about a "bad" cop who has had his gun taken away and schemes
a way to get it back.

As Prosser wrote in "Stalking Horse" the world Vachss
writes about is "our world." And for all the potential
subversion, Vachss does not want radical change, but rather
reform of the current system. Besides being a novelist, short
story, and comic book writer, Vachss is an attorney who
specializes in cases pertaining to youth; he is another
redefined intellectual.

Though the current hegemony is not exactly safe in
Vachss' hand; he is not an open threat either and the reader
can rest assured that if the system fails to bring about
justice some unseen force will (as described in "Dumping
Ground"). Or if the criminals get away with the crime, as in
"Unwritten Law", the story can have a cathartic effect through
the reader's vicarious experience of the "perfect" crime.
Hard Looks is not as clean and pure as the Superman or
Spiderman books; it is not so totally reproductive of the
dominant hegemony; it fits more in the reification role in
that the dominant hegemony can be seen as having a liberal
side by allowing its publication and thereby admitting it can
do no harm.

Palestine is a comic that offers another portrayal of
"our world," but the world here is not New York City, but the
world of political turmoil in Palestine and Israel. The
writer and artist, Joe Sacco, spent two months in Jerusalem
and the Occupied Territories to research Palestine during
the winter of 1991-92. Jim Woodring writes that "Joe Sacco's
light-seeking personality and superb storytelling skills
enable him to convey with raw, sweet humanist compassion the
bitter passions of this seemingly insoluble conflict" (qtd. in
Sacco, 1993). In describing Palestine, Woodring further
writes that "...Palestine seems to point to the manipulation
of both factions by a common enemy: a malignant and invisible
monster of hate that has men and governments at each other's
throats for reasons that defy resolution" (qtd. in Sacco,
1993). [End page 137]

This comic book is more subversive than Hard Looks in
that the subject matter is sympathetic to the Palestinian
cause and international politics has a tendency to generate
more impassioned debate than domestic crime and inner-city
street life. Such sympathy towards the Palestinians can be
construed as subversive because of their alleged ties with
terrorism and far left politics (associations with the Soviet
Union and Marxism). The short work, "A Palestinian Joke", is
a scathing attack on Israel through their secret service, Shin
Bet (Figure 4 and Figure 4A).
The Shin Bet comes across as irrational, inordinately cruel, and worse than the CIA or KGB.

As subversive as Palestine could be, it still does not
fall into the counter-hegemonic category. Many readers will
already be familiar with the dissident material of the late
60s and early 70s from the then Soviet Union. The atrocities
in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and police brutality in the US will
also be familiar reference points for readers of Palestine.
In other words, there is nothing really new here; in fact, the
contents fit well into the schema of political pluralism and
the Gramscian notion of passive revolution. Palestine is
simply a small voice for the other side and can just as easily
be ignored as foreign propaganda, as something that is
happening somewhere else and not "in one's own backyard."
Another argument can be made, the same made in reference to
Hard Looks, and that is the argument of intended audience.
Palestine is intended for "mature readers," readers who may
already be sympathetic to the Palestinian cause or have strong
opinions that cannot be changed one way or the other. The
recent events in the Middle East may also serve to dilute any
subversion and remember, according to Woodring, Sacco's
emphasis is on hatred and not governments. Sacco wants
compassion, not the overthrow of governments or radical
changes in foreign policy.

A comic that lies even closer to the edge of subversion
than Palestine is Something Different. To support the
Palestinians is one controversial issue, but to support
witchcraft, or the occult, is another issue altogether.
"Ember Days" is the first part of a two part story-line, "The
Last Song of the Benandanti," which is a parody of Franz
Werfel's The Song of Bernadette. Instead of visions of the
Virgin Mary and a young woman entering a convent, "Ember Days"
is the story of a witch's coven and the inquisition. While
the members of the coven are applying the "transvecting
ungent" that will enable them to leave their bodies and engage
in a spiritual battle to save the local crops, Rotaro, the
miller, is being interrogated by the inquisition and
attempting to dispel any connection between the Benandanti and
witchcraft (Cusick & Mangan, 1993:25-26).

A closer look will illustrate some of the subversive [End page 138]
qualities of Something Different (Figure 5 and Figure 5A).
The most notable social deviation is the nudity, though the
nudity is casual and non-sexual. The most subversive element
of this page is when Anna is asked to tell a story. Anna, in
turn, asks "A story? A true story or a myth?" (Cusick &
Mangan, 1993:26) and when Wolf asks "Is there a difference
Steelenmutter?" Anna answers "No, Wolf. I guess there
isn't..." (Cusick & Mangan, 1993:26). The subversion is the
questioning of reality and totally erasing the boundary
between myth and history and the larger dichotomy between
folklore, or religion of the people, and that religion set up
by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is the backdrop for
"The Last Song of the Benandanti." For Gramsci folklore
represents a world-view that is in opposition to the
"official" world-view, or the conceptions of the world held by
the dominant hegemony (Gramsci, 1985:189). In this way
folklore is vital in bringing "about the birth of a new
culture among the broad masses... ." (p.191). Therefore,
seeing myth as truth is the beginning of creating a counter-
hegemony.

The editorial comment would also lead the reader to view
Something Different as subversive. Here, the reader is told
that the purpose of this comic is to include "spoof, parody,
humor...." and another purpose is to "annoy, anger, outrage,
irritate...." (Cusick & Mangan, 1993:49). Though with humor
and spoof as the first objectives, there is a question of
seriousness. In addition to this, the occult, including
psychic readings and new age philosophies, is something of a
fad in popular culture as indicated by the numerous specialty
shops which cater to occult related books and paraphernalia.
And the Supreme Court recently ruled that animal sacrifice is
protected under the constitutional protection of freedom of
religion. So for all the subversive pretensions, Something
Different comes up short. It, too, falls into the realm of
reification; the tolerated "subversion."

A comic book that does fall into the counter-hegemonic
camp, is The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. This comic book
and other "underground" comics, such as Zap Comix, Skull
Comics, Quagmire, and Slow Death Funnies, comprise the
popular culture of the counter-culture from the 1960s. The
advertisements alone demonstrate this notion. In the
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers there are adds for drug
related practical jokes: exploding joints, plastic "roaches",
police siren cushions and dribble syringes (Shelton, 1985).
Another type of advertisement asks for real stories; "keep
those cards and letters coming, fellow freaks! If you know a
true tale of revolutionary adventure, or an interesting bit of
dope lore... put it down on paper and mail it in!" (Shelton,
1991). With such "folklore," these comics become more than a
vehicle for humor, they become the vehicle for the kind of
folklore and popular culture mentioned above. [End page 139]

The "underground" comics illustrated an anti-hegemonic,
anti-authority, anti-war sentiment and expressed a desire for
freedom from many current mores of the late 1960s. Mark
Estren (1993) discusses this point in excellent detail inA
History of Underground Comics. And yet for all their
subversion, these comics have been subjected to a subtle form
of reification. Recently there has been increased scholarly
interest (e.g., Estren, 1993; Groth & Fiore, 1988
; Wiater & Bissette, 1993), there is a market for original printings and
first issues (Kennedy, 1982), and reprints are being published
and made available through catalogs or in area comic specialty
shops. "Undergrounds" have been accepted, the times and
condition of society represented between their covers is
considered past. They now have a status that is reminiscent
of an old joke. A young American is talking with a young
Russian and says, "In America I have the freedom to stand
before the White House and criticize American capitalism and
politics." The Russian replies, "So what! I have the freedom
to stand in Red Square and criticize American capitalism and
politics, too."

The last comic book to be analyzed also falls into the
counter-hegemonic camp, but it falls squarely into the middle
of it and has yet to fall victim to reification. The comic is
Girlhero by Megan Kelso. This work combines cyberpunk (the
most recent counterculture), feminism, and Marxism. The
story-line is about a young woman, Bottlecap, who works in a
factory, Boehauser, and she thinks she is making parts of
airplanes. Bottlecap is laid off and uses stolen equipment
and medication from the factory to operate on her arm, turning
it into a rivet gun. Later she gets her job back and
organizes a revolution. This issue ends with all females
being fired, Bottlecap and friends living in a hideout, and
Boehauser security getting a lead on their whereabouts.

The subversiveness of this comic takes five forms.
First, the title offers the reader some subtle messages.
Girl, which in this case could be interpreted in the same
derogatory manner as calling a mature black man "boy", is
combined with hero and plays on the constructs of women's role
in society. This concept is reinforced in the story-line,
where Bottlecap and company show themselves to be powerful,
thoughtful planners of revolution. Bottlecap is a "girl" only
in the eyes of the exploitative company Boehauser, while she
is a hero to her peers.

The other expressions of subversion are best discussed in
the context of the text itself (Figure 6 and Figure 6A). This
comic has a surrealistic style in the panel design, artwork,
and verbal text. Girlhero is in black and white, and the top
panel (Figure 6) is reminiscent of a scene from Metropolis,
the surrealistic silent film about a future society. Notions [End page 140]
of reality, conceptions of the world, and world-views are all
very important in maintaining the dominant hegemony; any
tampering with any one of these notions can be considered
counter-hegemonic as seen in Gramsci's (1985) writing on
folklore (pp.188-195). Other examples of this blurring of
reality is seen by the operation Bottlecap is performing on
Yolanda, hooking her brain up to Boehauser's main computer
(Figure 6A).

The touch of cyberpunk is especially important as it
marks the appearance of reification from the counter-hegemonic
perspective. The surface message relates to the social
comment on American subalterns; readers are forced to ask
whether becoming part machine isn't part and parcel of working
in a factory, whether that factory is designed to build
airplanes, or educate the children, youth, and young adults of
American society. However, Bottlecap and her gang are using
this concept as a means to carry off a revolt. The mechanized
human as a subject of submission has been reified to a concept
of rebellion.

These ideological questions comprise the second
subversive expression. Thirdly, Bottlecap is "sowing the
seeds of dissent among the women workers at Boehauser."
(Kelso, 1993). Open revolt ensues and Bottlecap kills a
Boehauser security man, which, according to one of her friends
is peanuts compared to killing a cop (Kelso, 1993). It is
true that this scene is obviously Marxist, due to the factory
setting. But what makes Girlhero truly subversive or
counter-hegemonic is the blending of all five components. The
subversive qualities of Girlhero are, therefore, the bending
of reality, the ideological questions that are raised, and the
advocacy of revolution along with the practice of reversed
reification.

D. Conclusion: Comments On The Industry

The comics analyzed can be divided into two major groups;
mainstream comics and independents. The main difference
between the two is market share and distribution. DC Comics,
Marvel Comics, and to some extent Dark Horse Comics can be
considered mainstream because comics published by these
companies can be found in grocery stores, drug stores, and
convenience stores in addition to specialty comic shops. In
terms of market share, Marvel Comics has 41.7 percent, DC
Comics has 29.4 percent, and all other comic book publishers
have 28.9 percent (Jefferson, 1990:B1). In a Preview comics catalog there were a total of 169 comic book publishers (and
there are many companies who do not advertise in the major
catalogs). Though the comics analyzed make up a small portion
of all the comics that are published, other scholars (e.g.,
Belk, 1987; DiFazio, 1973) have analyzed a wider sample that [End page 141]
cover a greater diversity. In terms of reproducing the
hegemony, John DiFazio (1973) claims "that comic books
generally present values considered important in our
society... ." (p.231). Russell Belk (1987) found that "comic
books may have a positive socializing influence on children;
those emphasizing themes of wealth conform to socially
acceptable stereotypes concerning the acquisition and use of
wealth." (p.38). As the two comics that were the least
subversive were published by companies that comprise a
combined total of 71.1 percent of the market, it would seem to
be safe to conclude that most comics are not subversive. In
fact, comics are more likely to be propagandistic in favor of
the current dominant hegemony, and the article "Propagandistic
Aspects of Modern Comic-Books" by H. Paymans (1976) leans
slightly in this same direction. It is interesting to note
that the more subversive comics are published by independents
and are less accessible to the general public than the
mainstream comics.

It is tempting to make vast generalizations when dealing
with a medium such as comics, and the time has arrived to ask
if such generalizations are possible. The material here has
been presented and analyzed in a way to convince the reader
that comics, for the most part, are not subversive; the vast
majority serve to reproduce the hegemony, or at the least have
fallen victim to reification, but a quick glance at the comic
book industry will prove that the days for making general
statements about comics is over, if those days ever existed in
the first place.

Annual sales of comics have reached $700 million (with
current predictions of one billion dollars for 1994), which is
a 500 percent increase from 1980 (Jensen, 1993:33). Some 800
titles are published a year and though the comic book market
has not regained the household penetration rate of 90 percent
from the 1940s, comics can be found in 50 percent of today's
households, with signs of a steady increase apparent (Bianchi,
1993:108). With over 169 comic book companies producing
everything from Disney characters to such titles as Real
Smut and Mistress of Bondage (both published by Eros Comix)
the diversity is such that generalizations are not possible.
In order to truly discern if comics are subversive, each title
must be taken on its own merit and analyzed carefully over
many issues. [End page 142]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adamson, W. (1980). Hegemony and revolution: A study of
Antonio Gramsci's political and cultural theory.
Berkeley: University of California Press.

Denemark, D. (1990). "Making sense of Gramsci in the
1980s." Political Science, 42(2):43-50.

DiFazio, J. (1973). A content analysis to determine the
presence of selected values found in comic books during
two time periods, 1946-1950, 1966-1970. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa, Iowa City.

Romenesko, J. (1994). "The Mike Diana/Boiled Angel saga."
Obscure Publications...the online version (April 15).
(Available on the Internet from obscure@csd4.csd.uwm.edu,
at the University of Wisonsin, Milwaukee).